A Clinic RN and a Single Mom blogging through the depths of sanity. My life as I know it started with coffee and conversation in a smoky room. This is where I'm at now.

Dec 9, 2005

New word of the day

Here's a little something for all you medical folks, (and you non-medical folks who find medical stuff interesting) My lower eye lid on my left has been tender for 3 days. I woke up this morning at it was pretty darn swollen. This picture is actually after the swelling went down with cold compresses. So I drove myself to my doctor. (actually I saw her assoc. NP, I like her) She tells me I have an infection in my lacrimal tear duct called Acute Dacryocystitis. It's often associated with occurring after a Nasal sinus infection, which I am finally recovering from. The lacrimal duct becomes clogged and an infection develops.The symptoms are redness(erythema), swelling(edema), and local tenderness.There is also some occasional blurriness from drainage. I start Antibiotics today and I have to be diligent about putting warm moist compresses on it. Apparently it is not uncommon for a fissure (tunnel like lesion) to form through to the surface the tear duct to drain the infection and the mere idea of that happening REALLY freaks me out. So that's the word of the day today: Dacryocysitis. Hope you learned something new. :)